British Library periodicals from Colindale available to order again

Taken from the British Library news:

“From February 17 periodicals formerly held at Colindale – and embargoed since June last year – will be available to order again.

The majority of periodicals, amounting to some 24,000 titles, have been moved to Boston Spa and will be available to order into any St Pancras Reading Room within 48 hours. A small number of high-use periodicals have been moved to St Pancras and will be available to order into any St Pancras Reading Room within 70 minutes.”

Order via BL Explore.

Microfilms will become available in March when the new News and Media Reading Room opens on the St Pancras site.

The British Library’s full announcement has further details.

Find all HFL blogs posts

 

BL’s Colindale Newspaper Reading Room closes today (8 Nov 2013)

ColindaleAs you may or may not know, the BL’s Colindale Newspaper Reading Room closes today. Vast volumes of newspapers have been moved to Boston Spa where the Newspaper Storage Building (NSB) is apparently substantially complete. The newspapers moving to NSB are expected to become available again in autumn 2014.

The BL’s News and Media Reading Room will open in March 2014. Note that you will need a full BL reader pass to get access.

“Colindale users who currently have a Newspaper Library Reader Pass are therefore strongly encouraged to upgrade to a full British Library Reader Pass, which they will need in order to access the collections held at St Pancras. You can find full information about registering for a British Library Reader Pass.”

“Resources that can be consulted in any of the Reading Rooms include the British Newspaper Archive which features nearly 7 million searchable pages of newspapers from across the UK. “ Please note that BNA does not offer us to take out an institutional license.

Taken from the BL Collections Move Bulletin October 2013.

Searching for newspapers in BL Explore

The BL has a special newspaper catalogue which is very useful for locating the titles of newspapers published in towns or region. Here’s what to do:

  1. Go to BL Explore
  2. Click on Advanced search
  3. In Search Scope, select Newspaper Library
  4. In the search form, change Anywhere to Place Name
  5. Type in any place name and you will get a listing of newspapers held at the BL.
  6. Search by newspaper title in SOLO to see if Oxford has the newspaper.
  7. Bob’s your uncle.

Explore BL newspaper place search

 

Related links:

Daily Mail Historical Archive 1896-2004 – available in the British Library

Daily-Mail-Historical-Archive-Header-Graphic

Whilst the Daily Mail Historical Archive 1896-2004 is high on the modern history desiderata list, it is currently not possible for us to fund the purchase at this point in time. While efforts are ongoing to secure access, Oxford users who are very keen on this key 20th century tabloid may like to know that the British Library has bought access to this database. It is listed in their eResources list.

The Daily Mail is a well-known British daily tabloid which was first published on 4 May 1896 by Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe, and his brother Harold, later Lord Rothermere. This resource provides access to more than 100 years of this publication, which boasts a circulation now of over 2 million.

It can be viewed in full digital facsimile form, with copious advertisements, news stories and images that capture 20th century culture and society.

What next?

Before using eresources in the British Library, you will need to be a registered user of the BL. Get started with Using the BL #1.

If you need guidance on using the collections, check out Using the BL #2 for details of guides, training and enquiry services.

Related links

What are other history databases are available in the British Library but not in Oxford?

Trial until 12 October: Daily Mail Historical Archive, 1896-2004

Oxford users are now invited to trial Daily Mail Historical Archive, 1896-2004.

The Daily Mail is a well-known British daily tabloid which was first published on 4 May 1896 by Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe, and his brother Harold, later Lord Rothermere. This resource provides access to more than 100 years of this publication, which boasts a circulation now of over 2 million.

It can be viewed in full digital facsimile form, with copious advertisements, news stories and images that capture 20th century culture and society.

Let us know what you think!

Comments can be left on the History databases desiderata site or sent to isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk by 12 October when the trial ends.

Newspapers, newspapers, newspapers

The online historical archive of the Daily Mirror, another tabloid, is already available to Oxford users.

Check what other historical newspapers are available online in Oxford.

Newly bookmarked: Richard Heaton’s Index to Digitalised British and Irish Newspapers Online Beta

This beta site, last updated on 25 August 2013, looks very useful indeed to those working with 19th and 20th century British and Irish newspaper sources. It has now been bookmarked on HFL Delicious along with many other newspaper resources.

Richard Heaton’s Index to Digitalised British and Irish Newspapers Online (Beta)

The website is a list of all the titles in all of the Digitalised Online British and Irish Newspapers that Richard Heaton, a researcher, is aware of and which, he says “may be a helpful guide to identify whether a title is available online and, if so, what dates could be available and where you can locate it based on the data provided by the various sites (see link below). The Lists are split England (excluding London), London (which splits between Local newspapers and National Titles), Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man. They are sorted by County and then Town except London (which being a very large file) which I have chosen to sort by title (which means titles from the 17th Century could be next to those for the 20th Century).”

Local London newspapers, from Richard Heaton's Index to British and Irish newspapers.

Local London newspapers, from Richard Heaton’s Index to British and Irish newspapers.

Related links:

More HFL blog posts on historical newspapers

Start searching in:

17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers (Oxford users)

19th Century British Library Newspapers (Oxford users)

Times Digital Archive (1785-2007) (Oxford users)

Guardian (1821-2003) / Observer (1791-2003) (Oxford users)

Illustrated London News Historical Archive (1842-2003) (Oxford users)

Daily Mirror (1903- ) (Oxford users)

British Newspaper Archive

Welsh Newspapers Online (1844-1910)

Scotsman (1817-1950) (Oxford users)

Irish Times (1859-2011) / Weekly Irish Times (1876-1958) (Oxford users)

Irish Newspaper Archives (INA) (1738- ) (Oxford users)

3 historical East German newspapers now online

“From advertisements to propaganda to personal interest stories, the newspapers of Communist East Germany are a historical wellspring. Thanks to a four-year digital achiving project, three major papers are now available for free online.” – thus reports Charly Wilder in Digitizing the GDR: East German Papers Offer Glimpse of History Der Spiegel, June 27, 2013.

Front page of Neues Deutschland showing grainy photos of Marx and Engels under the headline 100 Jahre Kommunistiches Manifest

A 1948 cover of Neues Deutschland, the official newspaper of East Germany’s Communist Party, devotes its cover to “100 Years of the Communist Manifesto.”

In ZEFYS (Zeitungsinformationssystem), the DDR-Presse offers access to three historical East German newspapers. They are:

These important historical newspapers therefore cover the period of Soviet occupation 1945-49 and the DDR itself (1949-1990) with also some coverage beyond the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification in 1990.

Neues Deutschland

Financed and published by the SED, it appeared first on 23 April 1946. It reflects strongly party-political views on all matters, also relating to culture, literature, sports and social affairs.

Berliner Zeitung

This is Berlin’s oldest continuous daily, first published as early as 21 May 1945, so very soon as German surrender. Despite being located in the capital and close to the SED, it was able to maintain its own distinct profile.

Neue Zeit

This newspaper was the party newspaper of the conservatives, CDU, in East German. It first appeared on 22 July 1945. It is aimed reach those for the Neues Deutschland did not appeal.

Access

Access is free but you will need to register. If you are a registered reader of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (SBB), you can login with the readers card login. For information regarding access, see https://zefys.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/.

Forthcoming resources:

East Germany from Stalinization to the New Economic Policy, 1950-1963

This online resource reproduces the State Department Decimal Files 762B, 862B and 962B from the General Records of the Department of State, in the custody of the National Archives. It was originally microfilmed as Records of the U.S. Department of State, relating to the Internal Affairs of East Germany.

It specifically looks at in depth the creation of the East German state, living conditions and its people.  Documents included in this collection are predominantly instructions to and dispatches from U.S. diplomatic and consular personnel, regarding political, military, economic, social, industrial and other internal conditions and events in East Germany.

[update 3 August 2023]

New: Irish Newspaper Archives (1738-)

Oxford users now have access to Irish Newspaper Archives (INA) covering 1738 to current. Bodleian Libraries is very pleased to be able to offer this much sought-after resource to its readers.

INA provides access to over the archive of over 23 Irish national and regional newspapers. It includes for instance Irish Independent (1905-2001), Leitrim Observer (1904-1998), The Munster Express (1908-2004) but also historic newspapers such as the Freeman’s Journal (1763-1924), Nation (1840-1900) and Leinster Journal (1767-1828).

INA 1914 snippet

Irish Independent, Thurs 3 Dec 1914

It is very useful not just for Irish history, literature and language, sociology and culture in general, but also for those working on British and American studies.

Happy searching! Access is via SOLO and Databases A-Z.

Related links & more Irish resources

The Times Digital Archive and its value to historians – review by Adrian Bingham

Adrian Bingham, University of Sheffield, has published a review of The Times Digital Archive in the latest English Historical Review, August 2013; Vol. 128, No. 533, pp 1037-1040 (via Oxford University subscription). It rather usefully discusses why the TDA is useful for historians.

The Times Digital Archive TDA, available to registered eaders of the Bodleian Libraries, is one of those staple resources for anybody doing 19th and 20th century history. I regularly recommend it as a source for almost any subject, not just social, political or economic history, but also cultural, art, ecclesiastical and scientific history. And then it covers topics which probably nobody else has written much on. And perhaps you are looking for a reference to that one single elusive person who might have written a letter to the editor. And so on.Times Digital Archive - new look

If your university library doesn’t have a subscription or you are travelling elsewhere in the UK, it is worth noting that most public libraries also provide access to TDA. Check here for some public libraries.

More posts on historical newspapers including:

History Database of the Month: ProQuest Historical Newspapers (02/04/2013)

Launched: Welsh Newspapers Online (beta) (14/03/2013)

New to Oxford users: The Daily Mirror 1903- (14/09/2012)

Trials until 9th August: African American Periodicals and African American Newspapers

The Vere Harmsworth Library is trialling access to two major databases of African American Periodicals and Newspapers until 9th August.

African American Periodicals - Southern Voice snippet

African American Periodicals, 1825-1995
African American Periodicals, 1825-1995, features more than 170 wide-ranging periodicals by and about African Americans. Published in 26 states, the publications include academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations bulletins, annual reports and other genres.

African American Newspapers, 1827-1998
African American Newspapers, 1827-1998, provides online access to approximately 270 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience. This unique collection features papers from more than 35 states—including many rare and historically significant 19th century titles.

Both are now available via OxLIP+ (sign in for remote access).

Please send comments and feedback to jane.rawson@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

New: e-access to South Eastern Gazette 1852-1912

Thanks to Heritage Lottery Funding, Oxford users now have online access to the archive of an important regional English newspaper, The South Eastern Gazette 1852-1912 (UKPress Online). It is listed in OxLIP+ and will soon appear in SOLO.

South Eastern Gazette title 1862

Formerly The Maidstone Gazette, the South Eastern Gazette was a major regional title for the south-east of England.

Kent / by Herman Moll (1732?)

Circulating in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, it published reports of local occurrences, the state of all the hop districts, and the London and country markets and promoted educational advancement. It also featured some reports from abroad.

For more about the newspaper, check out the entry in the Waterloo Directory of English Periodicals and Newspapers, 1800-1900 (also accessible to Oxford users).

Cross searching with The Daily Mirror

You can search The Daily Mirror and The South Eastern Gazette together or separately. Simply untick the box at the bottom of the Advance search screen.

Related links

See also our blog post on historical newspapers for details of other historical newspapers online.